Saving John Carter

David Konow, 26th February 2012

Hollywood is definitely a very paranoid place. Everything's the end of the world, no matter how slight, because there's so much money at stake.

So whenever the "buzz" on a movie's less than stellar, everyone repeatedly hits the panic button and runs around screaming the sky is falling.

This may indeed what could be happening with John Carter, which has been reportedly tracking "soft" before it's release, and the press has been inundated with stories that the film could be in trouble.

And as we've reported here before, the buzz on movies can often be false, both good and bad, and like legendary screenwriter William Goldman famously, and accurately once said, "Nobody knows anything."

So now a report popped up in the Hollywood Reporter about Disney trying to save John Carter, and according to writer Jay A. Fernandez, it's crunch time at Disney, with everyone trying to turn the public impression on the film around. "Everyone's focus right now is merely on getting as many people to see the movie as possible," a spokesperson for Disney confirmed.

As would be expected, unnamed "rival studio" execs are taking potshots at the film saying, "They are doing an extraordinary job of not selling what they think it is," meaning a big "tent-pole" potential franchise film. Funny enough, Mars was also taken off the title because Disney had a big bomb with Mars Needs Moms. (They also tried to get Lucas to rename Star Wars because movies with War in the title usually weren't that successful.) Oddly enough, there's also no big merchandising push for the film either.

Still, once again, it's also being pointed out that director Andrew Stanton had success where many thought he wouldn't. As a source tells the Reporter, "This is the guy who made a movie about a fish and turned it into a hit," referring of course to Finding Nemo.

Although no reviews are out yet, The Hollywood Reporter also ran a story on the film's premiere in L.A., with several fan boy reviews digging it, and star Taylor Kitsch saying, "We made a f*cking great movie in John Carter. It's such wasted energy if I worry about what a million people I don't know are going to think. I'm excited for people to enjoy the journey."